Knife holders for holding a plurality of knives, typically in the form of wooden blocks having a plurality of slots, are well known. The most common form of these knife holding blocks is designed to be placed on a countertop so that the knives will be readily accessible. Since the knives are readily accessible, it is desirable to include some type of locking mechanism to prevent the knives from being removed from the block, for example, by young children.
Known in the art, there is U.S. design Pat. No. D488,677 granted to Reichenbach et al., which discloses a locking block for knives. The block has a set of slots, each for respectively receiving a blade of a knife. The block is also provided with a locking system comprising a rotatable locking element having a first position preventing a movement of each of the knives away from the block, and a second position where each of the knives can be removed from the block. However, this block requires the use of knives having a predetermined shaped handle having a recess near the blade. In the first position, the locking element extends in the recess of each handle to prevent the knives from being pulled out of the block.
Also known in the art, there is U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,756 granted to Howell et al., which discloses a lockable knife block in which a separate spring-loaded locking and latching device is provided for each of the slots in the knife block. Each of the devices engages a notch formed in the upper portion of the blade of a corresponding knife to prevent each of the knives from being removed from the knife block. A push button release mechanism is attached to each locking and latching device for disengaging the knife blade latched thereto. While effective, the knife block is large and bulky, and a large amount of hardware is required in order to lock all of the knives in the knife holder because a separate locking device is required for each knife.
Also known in the art, there is U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,016 granted to Stuchlik, which discloses a knife holder with safety lock capable of preventing a movement of the knives away from the holder. This knife holder also requires the use of particularly shaped knives having a recess in their blade for interacting with the safety lock.
Also known in the art, there is US patent application No. 2004/0031769. In this patent application, Schultz describes a holding device for knives. This holding device can be provided with a locking device having a first position preventing a movement of each of the knives away from the holding device, and a second position where each of the knives can be removed from the holding device. However, this device also requires the use of knives having a predetermined shaped handle having a recess near the blade. In the first position, the locking device cooperates with each recess of each knife to prevent movement of the knives away from the holding device.
Also of interest, there is U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,582, granted to Geleziunas, which discloses a device for holding planar implements such as knives. This device is provided with a number of vertical slots. For each slot, there is a number of gripping elements and a spring urging the gripping elements into the slot, for grasping a knife. Each gripping element is preferably channel-shaped and includes flanges projecting through openings of a side wall of a slot. The gripping elements define a tapered entry zone, so that a knife can be inserted simply by pushing it into a slot. This device is however not provided with locking means preventing a movement of the knives away from the device.
Also known in the art, there are the following patents and patent applications which describe different knife holding devices: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,980,608; 4,604,836; 4,825,550; 4,866,845; 5,494,176; 5,655,672; 6,371,312; 6,439,403; 6,581,774 and 6,619,487 and US patent applications Nos. 2003/0000902 and 2003/0038098.
None of the above-mentioned patents provides a convenient knife support which can be easily and safely locked to prevent the removal of the knives when required, while being conveniently adapted to support any conventional knife without requiring a particular shape of the knife to be supported.
Furthermore, none of the above-mentioned patents provides a knife support which is effectively childproof since the proposed locking mechanisms could be easily operated by a child.